The vessels, the German U-boat 576 submarine and a freighter named Bluefields, have been lost for over 70 years and were found in an area known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic.

“This is not just the discovery of a single shipwreck,” said Joe Hoyt, a NOAA sanctuary scientist and chief scientist for the expedition.

“We have discovered an important battle site that is part of the Battle of the Atlantic. These two ships rest only a few hundred yards apart and together help us interpret and share their forgotten stories.”

US policy on sunken warships declares that the US owns both vessels no matter how long a passage of time has passed, and as such, the US government is entitled to do with them as it wishes. However, this could become a point of contention between the two countries.

The police explosives unit removed at least 15 mortars from a Pretoria West scrap dealership after one exploded in the dealer’s face, killing him instantly.

The 110mm World War 2 mortar exploded yesterday as the dealer cut it up for copper and brass.

Pieces of his flesh were sent flying into the road and onto a house across the street.

His assistant is recovering in hospital.

Police evacuated 12 houses close to the dealership on Rebecca Street as bomb experts feared further explosions. A black backpack containing five mortars was dropped by the sellers after the explosion, a few metres from a primary school.

“The bomb went off as [the sellers] walked away from the dealership … They dropped the bag and ran up the street,” tow-truck driver Benny van der Merwe said…

Museum director Richard Smith said it was “one of the the most feared weapons unleashed by the Nazis”. He said it had a “formidable reputation and could destroy an enemy tank from over 2km away”.

Curator David Willey said: “The Tiger was restored so that the public could fully appreciate what a truly fearsome machine it would have been during battle. “Now for the first time countless numbers of people will have the opportunity to see a genuine Tiger in a contemporary war film.”

He described it as “a unique piece of military heritage” and said its time on set would be “carefully managed and overseen by a group of museum workshop staff”.

Another tank from the Bovington museum, its Sherman M4E8, also features in the film.

In the early morning of 6 June 1942, 500 Japanese soldiers landed on Kiska, one of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. They took the only inhabitants of the island, a ten man (and six dog) US Navy Weather Detachment by complete surprise and quickly took control of American soil. Today, the island is one of the USA’s National Historic Landmarks: the aftermath of the Japanese invasion can still be seen on the rolling hillsides of Kiska.

Nearly 70 years have passed since the last shot was fired marking the end of World War II. But to look at headlines that emerged out of Germany this week, it may comes as a surprise that there are still bombs left behind from the conflict still waiting to go off.

Earlier this week, a 550-pound American-made bomb dating back to World War II was intentionally detonated in a controlled burst after its discovery by construction workers in the city of Oranienburg.

ANALYSIS: 200 Tons of Silver Found on WWII Ship
Although it was a managed explosion, officials still evacuated some 2,500 residents surrounding the blast area. The explosion shattered windows near the site and set roofs ablaze. But thanks to careful planning, the bomb didn’t claim any lives.

But that’s not all. On Thursday, a second bomb that was discovered was also detonated in the same city near the train station. It, too, had to be detonated, because moving the explosive was simply too risky.

Though it’s uncommon for two WWII-era bombs to be found and detonated in the same city within 24 hours of one another, it should come as no surprise that these explosives are lurking beneath what are now quiet urban or suburban areas. During WWII, when the whole nation was turned into a battlefield, some 22,000 bombs were drilled by the Allies on Oranienburg alone, according to NBC News.

Lucasfilm’s upcoming WW2 drama Red Tails has released a new trailer that finally marries the film’s flag-beating, grandstanding dialogue to some genuinely hair-raising action sequences.

Anthony Hemingway’s film charts the story of the Tuskagee training programme, in which untested African-American pilots were shipped out to Europe to help with the war effort. Held back by sceptical superior officers, Red Tails will document the Tuskagee pilots’ struggle with adversity for the right to defend their country…

A beach in Scotland may have to be closed to the public following the discovery of radioactive material.

According to a report by The Herald newspaper, “significant” sources of radiation were recently found on Dalgety Bay in Fife, a site where about 200 radioactive particles have been discovered previously. It’s believed the potentially dangerous material has come from decomposing aircraft from the Second World War, which were dismantled in the area.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) said yesterday that a specialist team is being brought in to remove a source of significant radioactive content which is buried at depth.

The Herald reported that the source is believed to be radium-coated instrument panels which were used during the war to allow pilots to view their aircraft’s dials at night. If the material was exposed naturally then it would pose a risk to local residents, SEPA said in a statement.

If parts of the beach were to be designated radioactive contaminated land, in order to protect the public, it would be the first time such action has been taken in the UK. SEPA has said this would be a last resort.

Anyone visiting the beach at Dalgety Bay is advised not to remove any material and to wash their hands following their visit.

7 brothers all in World War II, and they fought against each other! In World War II Japanese Americans were often sent home, and some were sent home before war broke out just so they could grow up Japanese. In a large family, this happened. In the case of the Oka family, the kids joined the armed forces. Some of the US and some for the Japan Imperialist Army. Here’s their story….

Nazi-occupied Paris was a terrible place to be in the waning days of World War Two, with Jews, Resistance fighters and ordinary citizens all hoping to escape. Disappearances became so common they often weren’t followed up.

And one man used the lawlessness for his own terrible purposes, killing perhaps as many as 150 people.

Yet it wasn’t until thick black smoke seeped into buildings in a fashionable part of the city that firefighters and police were called to an elegant townhouse where they found body parts scattered around — setting off a manhunt that led them, eventually, to Marcel Petiot.

The crime was very much of its time, said David King, who chronicled the hunt for Petiot in “Death in the City of Light.”

“Paris was not a good place to be. A lot of people were trying to leave Paris, a lot of people just disappearing. He had it plotted out, a very devious plan,” said King, in a telephone interview.

“Respect for the law was tarnished under the Nazis. Even if you suspected something, a lot of people were very, very reluctant to go forward, especially if they were Jewish.”

Petiot, as it turned out, was a respected physician who turned serial killer by night, preying largely on Jews desperate to leave Paris by luring them in with promises of escape. He was accused of murduring “only” some 27, but authorities suspected his real toll was far higher…

IT may have been more than 70 years since Bill Smith was first called up during World War Two, but he remembers his service days with amazing clarity.

That’s helped in part by the fascinating photos the great-grandfather has painstakingly looked after.

Last week we told how a photo of Bill appeared in the Sunday Sun in 1942, when he and his friends were snapped reading the paper in the Libyan desert.

Now, the 92-year-old has opened his scrapbook to reveal the scores of other photos taken during his six-year tour for his country, as a Leading Aircraftman (LAC) with 221 RAF Squadron, each numberswiki.com

revealing how – amidst the horror of war – there was much of the world for a young man from Washington to discover.

Photos of King George VI’s and Winston Churchill’s visit to the African desert, the Egyptian pyramids and groups of smiling, suntanned RAF servicemen are countered by scenes of devastation in Malta, crashed fighter planes and bombing raids.

“I took my camera everywhere and kept it wrapped in a blanket to keep the sand out,” said Bill.

Bill was just 21 years old when he was called up, his skills as an engineer needed by his country…

A World War II-era plane has today crashed and burst into flames on a runway at a West Virginia air show, killing the pilot.

The T-28 aircraft plummeted to ground shortly after it performed a routine belly-to-belly with another plane. Officials reported no injuries among spectators at the Martinsburg airfield.

The crash comes a day after a stunt pilot in Nevada crashed at an air show there, killing nine.

West Virginia Air National Guard spokesman Lieutenant Nathan Mueller said the T-28 aircraft crashed more info

while it performed during a routine at the Thunder over the Blue Ridge Open House and Air Show in Martinsburg. The crash occurred at 2.32pm at the 167th Airlift Wing during a stunt where two T-28s were flying belly-to-belly, the Journal of Martinsburg reported.

After the aircraft split, the plane that was heading west out of the manoeuvre wobbled and went straight into the ground, disintegrating into a ball of fire upon impact, the paper reported…